Mouood Mouood English Edition
Cameroon is set to send about 2,000 military reinforcements to its remote northern region to halt the ongoing deadly cross-border raids by the Nigeria-based Boko Haram Takfiri terrorist group.
According to a report on Cameroon Radio-Television, the troops will be deployed to the province of Far North, also known as the Extreme North Region, which borders northeastern Nigeria – a region convulsed by militancy.
“Almost 2,000 extra soldiers will be deployed in the Extreme North region,” state television said Tuesday.
The report, however, provided no further details and gave no timetable for the deployment.
Militant groups have staged several cross-border attacks and bombings to target villages and towns inside Cameroon over the past two years. The Takfiri militants have also abducted and massacred a large number of civilians across the volatile region.
An unprecedented series of five bombings by Boko Haram has claimed the lives of dozens of Cameroonian people over the past fortnight.
Nearly three dozen people have been killed by the terrorist group in three attacks on the market town of Maroua in less than a week.
According to local security sources, militants have slain and beheaded at least seven people in the region since July 26.
Meanwhile, Garba Shehu, a spokesman for Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, has said that he would travel to Cameroon on Wednesday for talks with President Paul Biya “to build a strong regional alliance to confront the militant group.”
The three Nigerian states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, located in Nigeria’s northeastern regions, have been the epicenter of six years of Boko Haram violence, which has claimed over 15,000 lives and displaced a further 1.5 million people.
The violence has spilled over into Nigeria’s neighboring countries. Soldiers from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger have been battling the terrorists in recent months.
Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau has repeatedly threatened to attack Nigeria’s neighbors that have joined forces against the militants.
